I coppied an iso onto a usb using this command:
dd if=/home/suseuser/install.iso of="/dev/sdb1" I’m guessing this is the fast way to get the data there.
Now that I have the data on the usb, what is the simplest, easiest command line way to make the usb bootable?
Actually the quickest way, would have been to use Unetbootin. Especially if you already have the iso downloaded. But as far as I know, it doesn’t work with 11.1 and 11.2 milestones. You have to alter some stuff first (such as the initrd). There are plenty of tutorials on how to make a bootable usb. The one I found that does the trick the best is this one here:
How to Make openSUSE 11.1 LiveUSB | Spirit of Change
It hasn’t failed me yet.
Another way to make a persistent storage live-usb is to run the live-cd and then install to the usb with just one / partition (no swap or home). Also make sure to tell it to use the root partition of the usb to boot so you don’t mess up your current computer’s grub. Then all you do is install yast2-live-installer onto the usb drive and whatever files you have in the / folder of the usb will be installed onto the new computer. So if you keep your live-usb stick up to date you can install freshly updated systems everytime.
Good Luck,
Ian